Brother's memory inspires Williams for World Cup opener

Ronwen Williams and South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa stand alongside each other with the World Cup trophy in a clear box next to them. Williams, on the left of the image, wears a stern expression and a white polo shirt with the emblem of the South African Football Association, while Ramaphosa wears a dark suit, white shirt, red tie and a beaming smile

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South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa will be hoping to see Ronwen Williams lead Bafana Bafana beyond the group stage for the first time at a World Cup

ByIsaac Fanin & Ian WilliamsBBC World Service

Published32 minutes ago

Football has a habit of throwing up poignant coincidences.

For South Africa and their captain Ronwen Williams, the 2026 Fifa World Cup's opening match against co-hosts Mexico will be one such occasion, mirroring the fixture which began the 2010 tournament hosted by the Africans.

"That's the beauty of sport, of football," said Williams. "I can remember 2010. The atmosphere for that opening game [a 1-1 draw] was electrifying. Everyone behind the country."

For the Mamelodi Sundowns goalkeeper, the occasion in Mexico City will be particularly emotional. His older brother Marvin was killed in a car crash just two months before the 2010 World Cup kicked off.

Ronwen was 18 at the time and briefly considered quitting football. Not doing so proved to be the right call.

"He had so much high hopes for me," Williams told Newsday on the BBC World Service.

"To know I'll be leading out my team in the opening game, I can't put it into words.

"It gives me chills. Sometimes I find myself just laying at night thinking [about] it.

"I always say the two most important games at the World Cup is the opening and the final, and Bafana Bafana is going to be part of one.

"We know the pressure is going to be extremely high, they're not going to make it easy for us. They're going to intimidate us. They're going to have the whole country behind them."

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Keeping it in the family

A trophy lift image shows Mamelodi Sundowns players celebrating winning the 2026 African Champions League title, with Ronwen Williams, dressed in purple goalkeeping kit, front and centre lifting the trophy alongside fellow keeper Denis Onyango. The golden trophy consists of two curving sweeps of metal which meet at the top to support a football. Sundowns players in yellow jerseys and blue shorts surround Williams, wearing medals around their necks as golden ticker tape falls around them

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Williams was a key figure as South African side Mamelodi Sundowns won the recent Caf Champions League, captaining the team and keeping a clean sheet in the second leg against Morocco's AS FAR

Although Williams has missed the influence of his brother, he has not been short of family support.

"I can remember when coach Hugo Broos announced me as captain, the family had a gathering," he recalled.

"I still have all those photos and videos, and just to see what it meant to them. I'm sure that joy and pride and happiness has probably doubled, if not tripled, now that I'm going into a World Cup."

For the past five years, Williams has had a new father figure in Broos, the Belgian coach who led Cameroon to the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) title in 2017.

Appointed to lead South Africa in 2021 with Bafana Bafana very much in the doldrums, the 74-year-old immediately made Williams his skipper and has re-energised the squad, leading them to a third-place finish at the 2023 Afcon and ensuring they topped their World Cup qualifying group - booking a place at the tournament for the fourth time.

Williams even goes so far as to say that Broos has "united" the country after bringing "belief and love" back to the team and South Africa itself.

"Two, three years ago we were crying for the supporters to come out and support us. And he mentioned that it goes hand in hand with performance, with results," the 34-year-old added.

"When we started picking up the results, that's when the belief came back.

"Now people can't wait for Bafana Bafana to play. Buying our merch, sending us the well wishes.

"He's been amazing, exceptional."

South Africa finished above Nigeria in their qualifying group, winning five of their 10 games.

But they went out of the most recent Afcon in the last 16, and after a 2-1 home defeat by Panama in March, Williams is not getting carried away as his team prepare to face Mexico, Czech Republic and South Korea in Group A.

"I think we need to be realistic about our chances. The most important thing is to get out of the group," Williams said.

"The mentality that we need to have is: can we compete? Can we show up? Can we perform?"

While South Africa picked up four points in their group in 2002 and 2010, they have never made it into the second round of a World Cup, meaning a place in the last 32 of the newly expanded tournament in Canada, Mexico and the USA would represent progress.

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Leading by example

Ronwen Williams in black goalkeeping kit dives to his right and raises his blue gloves with palms facing forwards to save a ball that has been sent goalwards from the penalty spot by a DR Congo player during the third-place play-off at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. The picture is taken from around the halfway line, looking back towards the goal, meaning the Congolese player, in white kit, is seen from behind having just taken his spot-kick

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Williams saved a remarkable six penalties in two shootouts to help South Africa to a third-place finish at the 2023 Afcon, the nation's best finish since 2000

Williams "loves" skippering his side, describing his style as one which brings "stability".

"You are the glue," he explained. "It's always been something that I've done. Even back when I started in my local league when I was a young boy.

"I think that I was made for it. I cherish the captaincy, the responsibility that comes with it."

He dismisses those who adhere to the football cliché that goalkeepers struggle to make great captains because they often find themselves removed from the heat of battle on the pitch.

"Nowadays, the referee always asks the captain to assign an infield player to make things easier, so that we are not wasting time [with] myself running from the goalpost."

Should Bafana Bafana make it to the knockout stage, Williams could find himself very much at the heart of the action, taking on another role in which he thrives: penalty saver extraordinaire.

His excellent record includes the remarkable Afcon 2023 quarter-final in which he saved four out of five spot-kicks in a shootout against Cape Verde.

He also saved two more penalties in the third-place play-off against DR Congo, with his performances rewarded with the 2024 African Goalkeeper of the Year prize and a nomination for the Yashin Award at the Ballon d'Or ceremony.

"I enjoy it. There's no pressure on the goalkeeper," Williams said.

"You analyse, you watch. When it comes to penalty shootouts, I try and pick up a lot of trends. Sometimes it goes with just the feeling that you have on the field."

Williams says penalties present "a moment to shine" and points to the influence of Emiliano Martinez, the Aston Villa keeper whose gamesmanship and decisive save in a shootout helped Argentina overcome France in the final of the 2022 World Cup.

While he describes Martinez as the "hero" in that game, others were critical of the Argentine's behaviour. But Williams says it is true that keepers are made differently to other footballers.

"You have to be," he explained. "Diving at someone's feet, saving a ball that's coming, I don't know at what speed, it's not normal.

"You need to be a bit crazy. Most goalkeepers are the jokesters in the team."

When Williams leads his team out in front of 73,000 fans in Mexico City's Estadio Azteca, he will need to lean on all of his experience if he hopes to guide South Africa to a surprise victory in the World Cup's opening match.